Snails are as tough as old boots.

[Plissken]

Or at least this one is...

As a lot of people will know, I have a great passion for snails and I have a pair of breeding adult fulicas. Around Christmas time, Drusilla became very ill. She stopped moving about and refused to eat. I then found her one morning with a lump of white discharge leaking down her neck and more appearing at her mouth, which was badly swollen.

I immediately seperated her from Groosalugg and proved her with a warm, humid, quiet tub with food and calcium. Over the next couple of weeks she became worse and became utterly unresponsive. I tried everything to get her out of her shell and get her feeding and nothing worked.

At one point I figured she was dead... in fact I think I even posted as such here on the forum somewhere. But it can be tricky to tell when they are truly dead and I left her an extra day or two - luckily so, as I came in one evening to find her out and tentatively moving around. I managed to get a small ammount of food in to her that night.

Anyway, she seemed to be improving drastically and her swelling was gone. When I was happier with her condition I returned her to the main tank with Groosalugg. All was well for a couple of weeks, but in the last couple of weeks she seems to be deteriorating once more. The swelling has not returned but she is definetly very reclusive and not eating nearly as much as I would like. She has also started dropping infertile, jelly eggs all over the enclosure.

I really don't know what is going to happen to Dru, but I know I've never seen a snail hang in like this before. I am trying everything in my power to save her and don't plan on giving up on her anytime soon. Maybe just snails to some but these guys are fascinating and beautiful and they sure have guts!

The trouble is that so very little is known about these guys. There are no snail vets and no snail medicines. I strongly encourage anyone who keeps these beauties to record any illness that may occur, in the hope that we will know more about how to help them in years to come.

Here are a couple pics of Dru and Groo, taken during the time she seemed to be better. Dru is the one on the left.

Thanks for reading and hope someone out there will cross their fingers for my girl!

 

[Nanci]

Aw...How long do they live? You've had her as long as I can remember...

 

[Plissken]

Nanci, an average lifespan for these guys is about 6-7 years, but 10 or more isn't unheard of. I've had this pair for just shy of 2 years now.

 

[Okeetee_Corn_Snakes]

Wow! They are beautiful!

I guess I am not the only one who likes snails. Though the only type I have kept are the rams horn snails found in aquariums. They got huge! I had three. I kept them for about three years....then my tank broke. 29 gal of water all over the floor, and my beautiful fish and snails. -_- I didn't know because I was at work. Never buying anything but hagen again....

 

[Eriathiel]

Poor girl! I hope she picks up for you. Its so hard to not be able to do anything!
Cute guys though.

 

[diamondlil]

Hope she's on the road to recovery soon.

 

[Plissken]

Thanks guys. I'll update her progress via this thread (and probably go crazy with pictures as well.)

 

[Voodoo]

Awww, I hope she feels better soon! I love snails too! They're such interesting creatures.

 

[Plissken]

Thanks! I used to think I was practically alone in loving snails, but I've met so many people who share my fascination. Mind you, I think I've dragged a couple over to the dark side here and there. :grin01:

 

[Tula_Montage]

Awww pooor wee snaily! I hope she gets better soon. My albino fulicas are getting mahooosive. And I insist on sending you some of their babies.

 

[Stregone]

Wow those guys are HUGE. I was thinking to myself, how can someone keep a snail as a pet, but those are like tarantulas instead of the spiders I was imagining before the pics.

 

[alan]

First, hope everything ends up right with your female.
Second, thank you for the great pics, 'specially the hand shot for scale.

 

[tom e]

Sorry to hear she/he's not well (they are both sexes aren't they?)
I have always enjoyed the pictures of these guys.. I'd have come over the the dark side myself if they were legal in my state. Very cool animals IMO.

 

[Plissken]

Awww pooor wee snaily! I hope she gets better soon. My albino fulicas are getting mahooosive. And I insist on sending you some of their babies.

Glad your albinos are doing well, Elle, and thank you! I don't have a whole lot of space for new critters atm, but if you wouldn't mind reserving a nice pair... :grin01:


Thanks everyone. Tom, snails actually don't have genders - they are hemaphrodites. But I call mine hes and shes but they aren't really. I guess I don't like saying "it."

 

[snakemom1961]

First and foremost I hope all goes well with her.

Second, I'd like to say that those snails are awesome! I don't believe I've seen snail other then the ones in fish tanks and I've always been fascinated by them!

Are land snails easily kept? What are thir requirements?
I would mind getting one myself if the care requirements aren't too difficult.

Do you have a link for care sheets on these guys?

Thanks in advance for any info your able to give me.

 

[carolinacorn69]

Are land snails easily kept? What are thir requirements?
I would mind getting one myself if the care requirements aren't too difficult.

Do you have a link for care sheets on these guys?

Thanks in advance for any info your able to give me.

I used to keep a pair. They are very easy to keep. I had mine for a long time but got over run with babies so I had to sell them all.

I kept them in a 3ft glass tank with a tight fitting lid with plenty of ventilation. I used a peat substrate and kept it nice and humid. Temp around 75 f.
I used plastic plants as decor, as obviously, they will eat any real plants you put it. I fed them all kinds of mixed vegetables. There isnt much they wont eat. And always make sure they have a cuttlefish so they can get calcium. Mist regularly for drinking water, though they get most of their water from lettuce etc....
They are good fun.

P.S.
I forgot who started this thread, but I hope your snail gets better

 

[Plissken]

First and foremost I hope all goes well with her.

Second, I'd like to say that those snails are awesome! I don't believe I've seen snail other then the ones in fish tanks and I've always been fascinated by them!

Are land snails easily kept? What are thir requirements?
I would mind getting one myself if the care requirements aren't too difficult.

Do you have a link for care sheets on these guys?

Thanks in advance for any info your able to give me.

Sadly it is illegal to keep giant snails in the USA.

However, they are pretty easy to care for, relatively speaking. You should not keep them alone - have a pair if not a group. They should be fed a varied diet of different fruits and vegetables (I will provide a list of what is safe and what isn't for anyone who's interested.) A water bowl isn't essential, but it's recommended as the snails will sit in it and this helps keep them hydrated and their skin nice and moist. Supplemental heating is not usually required. High humidity - 70-80% should be maintained at all times. They must ALWAYS have a source of calcium.

As for substrate - loose soils are not generally the best for snails. Soil and peat harbour pests and they have also been shown to cause scarring to the shells. They are also messy to work with. IMO the best for snails is capillary matting. It holds moisture really well so helps with humidity and the snails seem to love it. They do need to dig however, so a bowl of sphagnum moss or similar can be provided.

Last but not least snails need hiding places just like any other animal.

They are tremendous fun. I'd have hundreds of the silly things if I had more space.

Right now the top of my wishlist is to buy a pair of tigers...

 

[MegF.]

I know there are sites for snails here in the US, so I'm not sure that's true that you can't keep them here. I haven't noticed any regs to the contrary when I was looking for snake stuff, but to be honest, I was only looking for snake and not snail regs. I know they breed food source snails here. I was looking for a supplier when I was hoping for food sources if I ever got my snail eating snakes. Hope your snail recovers. Almost sounds as if she had an abscess of some sort. Maybe she needs to be kept on her own for a while to give her time to fully recover.

 

[Jcapicy]

I'm surprised you aren't getting over-run by babies! Snail generally breed everytime they meet in nature and both go off to lay eggs. One of the few animal groups with fertile hermaphroditic intercourse.

I hope the illness subsides and your snail returns to good health in the very near future.

 

[Plissken]

I know there are sites for snails here in the US, so I'm not sure that's true that you can't keep them here. I haven't noticed any regs to the contrary when I was looking for snake stuff, but to be honest, I was only looking for snake and not snail regs. I know they breed food source snails here. I was looking for a supplier when I was hoping for food sources if I ever got my snail eating snakes. Hope your snail recovers. Almost sounds as if she had an abscess of some sort. Maybe she needs to be kept on her own for a while to give her time to fully recover.

Some species of snail can be kept in the US, Meg. I am pretty sure that GALS are excluded as pets, but if that isn't true, I'd be interested to know more.

I believe she suffered something called a gut extrusion. However, I've never heard of a snail surviving the condition, so who knows?

I have thought about seperating her again, but I don't believe she is any risk to the other snail and he doesn't bother her. For now I'm just playing things by ear... not sure what to do really... like I said, there's not a whole lot out there about GALS diseases. I think the next course of action is to get some aloe vera or green tea.

Tough as this is for her and for me, I guess it makes me a better keeper in the long run. Experience and knowledge is all-empowering. :shrugs:

Thanks Jcapicy - I tend to destroy the eggs they lay. I once let a clutch hatch and I had the hardest time finding anyone to take the babies - I didn't even want anything for them. I ended up giving them to a local pet shop and they were mostly still there several months later. After that I figured it wasn't fair to hatch them if they had no good homes to go to.

They haven't been mating lately - they do lay less in the winter. Now I think of it, I may consider seperating the snails agan for that reason. I don't think I want Dru under the added pressure of creating eggs right now.